This invention relates to electrical connectors and is more particularly related to a new type of electrical contact.
Presently, printed circuit boards are connected to other electrical circuits by mating plated electrical contacts on the end portion of a printed circuit card with card edge connector contacts. Some of the disadvantages associated with present card edge connectors are poor electrical contact occurs after prolonged use and during shock and vibration testing the contacts on the printed circuit boards come out of the card edge connector causing the circuit board to lose electrical continuity. Further, contacts in the connector tend to build up an oxide on the contact surface over the life of a connector. Attempts to keep the connector contact surface free of oxide by action of the circuit board contact surface against the surface of the connector contact has resulted in excessive wear of both contacts, which results in poor electrical conductivity between the contacts. In instances where the contacts are of the male pin-type contact and the female socket type contact, the inner diameter of the female socket and the outer diameter of the male pin-type contact wear down until the contacts no longer mate together in pressurized contact.
To eliminate the aforementioned disadvantages associated with present printed circuit board type contacts and connectors, a new type of connector was developed that provided bifurcated electrical contacts that, in addition to electrically connecting to conduits in a circuit board, mechanically linked the contacts to the circuit board by mating with the conduits in the circuit board. An example of such an electrical connector and contact is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,853 entitled "Electrical Contact" issued Apr. 3, 1973 to James E. McKeown.
One disadvantage associated with this new connector with bifurcated contacts is that the restorative force on the resiliently deflectable arms, after the arms have been deflected to mate with the conduits in the circuit board, is not always sufficient to allow the arms of the contact to overcome the forces of friction between the conduit and contacts, and allow the arms to return to their original position. Therefore, one problem associated with this type of connector is to provide a means for restoring the deflected arms of a contact to their original position after they have been deflected.